Tdf ‘will Return To Uk’, Say Organisers

The Tour de France will return to Britain after what has been described as the “grandest Grand Depart” in the race’s 111-year history, according to race organisers.

Race director Christian Prudhomme told the BBC: ‘The question is not if, but when, [the race will return to Britain] although I don’t have the answer for the second part.’

‘It was incredible. It is going to be unforgettable, as the first time in London was just seven years ago.’

‘The Grand Depart in Yorkshire was amazing, it was emotional. It was the same on Monday, 30km in Greater London and so many people, everyone with smiles on their faces, it was emotional. What the British people have done is magnificent.’

Yorkshire hosted the first two stages of the 2014 race, with a third finishing in London on Monday.

The race proved a popular choice, with British Eurosport recording strong TV ratings for Yorkshire’s stages – a 60% increase in its average live audience in the UK compared to the 2013 Tour de France opening weekend in Corsica.

Both stages, which saw victories from Marcel Kittel and Vincenzo Nibali, were broadcast in full for a total of 10 hours live.

This year also saw analysis from American legend Greg LeMond, the three-time Tour de France winner, who is on-site to preview and review each stage in his own show “LeMond on Tour”.

The start of the Tour de France was first held outside of the country in Amsterdam in 1954 and since then, including the current edition, it has ventured abroad for the Grand Depart 20 times.

Britain has only staged the start of the race once before, in 2007, when London hosted a prologue time trial and a second stage from London to Canterbury in Kent.